12.17: Something About < gu > and < gh >

Something About <gu> and <gh>

1. Usually when a <g> is followed by the letters <e>, \begin{align*}<\mathrm{i}>\end{align*}<i> , or <y>, it is pronounced [j] and is called soft<g>.

2. Sometimes when a [g] sound has an <e>, \begin{align*}<\mathrm{i}>\end{align*}<i>, or <y> right after it, the [g] sound will be spelled <g> with an insulating \begin{align*}<\mathrm{u}>\end{align*}<u> standing between the <g> and the <e>, \begin{align*}<\mathrm{i}>\end{align*}<i> , or <y> to keep the <g> from looking as if it should be pronounced [j]. In a very few words the sound [g] is spelled <gh>, as in ghost. Underline the letters that spell [g] in the following words:

4. There is one common element that means “speech” and that contains the <g> spelling of [g] with an insulating \begin{align*}<\mathrm{u}>\end{align*}<u>. The element is logue. Remember that logue means “words or speech,” and be ready to discuss these questions:

If dia- means “two,” what is a dialogue?

If mono- means “one,” what is a monologue?

If pro- means “before,” what is a prologue?

What is a travelogue?

If cata- means “complete,” why is a catalogue called a catalogue?

Words that end <logue> can usually also be spelled <log>. Dialog, monolog, prolog, travelog, catalog, epilog are all correct spellings, too.

5. You've seen that an insulating \begin{align*}<\mathrm{u}>\end{align*}<u> is sometimes used after <g> to spell [g] before <e>, \begin{align*}<\mathrm{i}>\end{align*}<i> , or <y>. There are a few words where [g] is actually spelled <gu> in front of \begin{align*}<\mathrm{a}>\end{align*}<a>:

Originally these words were spelled with no \begin{align*}<\mathrm{u}>\end{align*}<u> in English. The \begin{align*}<\mathrm{u}>\end{align*}<u> was added in the \begin{align*}16^{th}\end{align*}16th century, probably to reflect an older French spelling with <gu>, pronounced [gw].

Word Histories. Oddly, the Greek prefix epi- meant both “before” and “after.” So an epilogue is writing that comes at the end of a book (just the opposite of a prologue), but an epigraph is writing that comes at the beginning of a book.

Teaching Notes.

Items 2-3. For more on the story of <gh>, see Book 5, Lesson 8.

Item 5. Guard and guarantee come from French, but the French had borrowed them not from Latin but from Frankish, a Germanic language of central Europe. The initial sound in the Frankish words was [w], and the French spelled them <gu>, probably pronounced [gw]. In time the [w] dropped out, but the \begin{align*}<\mathrm{u}>\end{align*}<u> stayed. Guard has a close relative in ward , which keeps the original Frankish [w]. The same relationship holds between guarantee (orguaranty) and warranty. Since the \begin{align*}<\mathrm{u}>\end{align*}<u> originally spelled [w], it was functioning as a consonant, so in guard, guarantee and the few other <gua> words we will treat the \begin{align*}<\mathrm{u}>\end{align*}<u> as part of the spelling of the consonant [g]: [g] = <gu>.